Recently, the City of Rutland Board of Aldermen decided to pay $30,000 to have bump-outs installed in a section of the city of Rutland. I have two issues with this.
Tax help was so very helpful. I usually use a national company to prepare my tax returns and even though I was given a discount, it was still more than $150 each year. A friend told me that BROC Community Action was able to prepare tax returns for people. Wow, after a one-hour meeting, my re…
I was dismayed to see (in the April 20 edition of the Rutland Herald) that the former Rutland Railroad car on display at the Vermont Farmers Food Center has been vandalized. Despite the progress made with the initiatives of Project VISION and the ongoing revitalization of Rutland's downtown,…
There has been a consistent message from the State House this session: We need to grow Vermont’s labor force. Solving a problem of this magnitude, one that may prove to be Vermont’s largest barrier to prosperity, will require seeking and utilizing every opportunity we can. Of those solutions…
The days leading up to this year’s Easter weekend revealed the staggering breadth of human character, from the craven to the courageous, the vain to the valiant. The Mueller report and the president’s schizophrenic reactions to it (“total exoneration” one day, “total bullsh*t” the next) were…
As the landscape starts to green up, our thoughts turn to the upcoming growing season. No one is more eager for it than Vermont’s farmers.
You may have noticed the New York City High Line has been in the news lately. The renowned public park might not be new news, but it certainly continues to be a phenomenon. It is an example of the brilliance that can come from ordinary citizens taking action at the micro-community level for …
William Barr, Mueller report, Department of Justice, Trump, political cartoon
With shades of déjà vu, another state school reform proposal has thudded down, this one touted as a vision of a “modern education system.” Unfortunately, it is more a remnant of a failed past rather than a view of a promising future. It is a mélange of 30 years of unsuccessful neoliberal ref…
As minority leaders in the Vermont House and Senate, we once again find ourselves frustrated by legislative proposals from the majority that leave us questioning how Vermont can sustain itself. Priorities are askew and fiscal discipline does not seem important. Some examples are in order.
When I became a senator for Vermont in 1975, one of the first votes I cast was for a law to stop funding the war in Vietnam. That law passed by one vote.
The Vermont Legislature has spent considerable time over the past two years evaluating legislation that will raise Vermont’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The current bill being considered would increase the minimum wage incrementally to $15 by 2024. On the national level, there is also a pus…
The current fight over immigration needs an explanation that is easy to follow. The current administration, Congress and the media muddy the waters and make it all difficult to understand. They do this because they want to weave their own tale of how this all came about rather than explain i…
I would like to express my gratitude to the entire staff and management of the Rutland Library for allowing our group, The Meadow Brook Duo, the use of the Nella Grimm Fox Room earlier this month for our inaugural concert. It was heartwarming to see so many of our friends and neighbors in th…
"Wow! $31 million for a school budget. Why so much? When I was younger, it didn't cost so much."
In Wednesday’s article regarding the request for $30,000 for bump-outs, Mayor Allaire was quoted: “It’s hard to put a price tag on people’s safety.”
Now that we have the 448-page Mueller report in hand, one thing is abundantly clear: There may not be fire, but there is plenty of smoke choking the truth.
I am likely the sorriest excuse for a native Vermonter that the town of Proctor or the state of Vermont has ever produced. That said, I proclaim my self-appointed status as an everlasting tourist.
Over the past 28 years as a practitioner and teacher of primary care pediatrics at UVM’s Larner College of Medicine, and as a member of Vermont’s Child Fatality Review Team, I have had the opportunity to learn much about suicide and gun violence prevention. I have seen more than I wish I had…
More than a quarter, or 28.3%, of Vermont households spent 35% or more of their income on housing costs in 2016, according to a new report from the Vermont State Data Center. That is a very scary statistic.
Have you ever thought about what happens to balloons drifting skyward after a festive release at a party?
Sadie Stetson was named 2018-19 Vermont Girls Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year for the third year in a row, recognizing the St. Johnsbury Academy senior as the top player in the state. She helped lead her team to their repeat Division I championship, defeating Champlain Valley Union Hi…
“Respect, Protect and Enjoy” — words from the website of Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources. Words matter. Lowell Lake State Park’s long-range plan matters. This quiet system of woods, lake, swamps, fens and trails found near Londonderry has been an undeveloped park since 1977. The park i…
The world had its heart broken this week.
Picture to yourself, as a resident of downtown Montpelier, that the Onion River is an international border. You need a passport to go across to the rest of the city — as well, of course, to Berlin and Barre — and, on any of these crossings, your car might be searched, you questioned and that…
Strong schools are necessary for a strong community. Our youth are our future. When voters vote down a school budget, it gives our youth the message that Springfield voters do not care for them. When it makes the news that Springfield is one of three towns in Vermont to vote down its school …
When my wife and I moved from Boston to Rutland County in 1971, we could not be more excited to raise our family and start our business. One of the reasons we chose the Rutland area was, my wife was a graduate of Middlebury College and we learned through conversations with members of the com…
Finally, after years and years of inaction, the Vermont Legislature is stepping up to help support low-income weatherization by proposing a 2-cent-per-gallon surcharge on delivered fuels like propane and heating oil. We all should applaud the legislators who developed and are supporting this…
Thanks to the beautiful downtown space provided by Mark Foley and the well-done recurrent ads provided by George Nostrand and his co-workers at the Rutland Herald, the Rutland AARP TaxAide site had its best season since the site started back in the year 2000. We serve, for the most part, eld…
I am a therapist in private practice working with people of all ages and all issues. People struggle for all kinds of reasons. But what bothers me the most is the struggles brought on by the hurt and pain caused by others.
I am writing to support the passage of Springfield’s revised school budget.
On a recent Friday (April 5), I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon in Rutland Middle School speaking to Mr. Lindgren’s and Ms. Geno’s history classes. What I observed there was both enlightening and disturbing.
Right whales aren’t exactly pretty. They are among the largest whales in the ocean, adults reaching 45 feet to 55 feet in length, and weighing some 70 tons, and their size alone makes them majestic, awe-inspiring creatures of the planet. But they’re baleen whales, not toothed whales; when th…
During the late 1930s and early 1940s, my family lived in a fourth-floor walkup a few blocks from the Capitol in Albany. I remember there was a gap of maybe a quarter of an inch between the linoleum flooring and the bottom of the wooden baseboards in the kitchen. I went in there one night to…
It is amazing that in the same week, it was science — not necessarily politics — that stole headlines: We took a photo (so to speak) of a black hole; and we found some distant human relatives.
In 2018, Seven Days ran a series of articles regarding nonprofit organizations. They did a great service explaining to Vermonters how large the Vermont nonprofit sector has become, their CEO salaries, etc. Unfortunately, I believe they may have missed an important story. They could have focu…
The Vermont Legislature is right to consider amending the state’s provision that ended slavery. Our Constitution should clarify that Vermont prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude in all its forms. But we should be careful precisely how we do it. The current proposals threaten to obscur…
This column is being written (and read) in New England, the least religious area of the United States, as per various recent studies. And Vermont is usually tied with Massachusetts or New Hampshire for first place. Not necessarily unrelated to this distinction is the fact that Vermont, New H…
If one hangs around motorcyclists for any length of time, you will eventually see one wearing a T-shirt that says: “If I have to explain, you’ll never understand.” This rather snarky expression embodies the frustration of a motorcyclist confronted by those who don’t ride and have little tole…
Last week, the House passed a bill that raised taxes on the wrong people to support a worthy cause for, in large measure, the wrong reasons.
On Friday, March 15, images and video flowed in from around the world, Australia, the Pacific, Asia, Europe and Africa, as more than a million students in 120 countries walked out of school to strike for the climate. Thousands of scientists supported them, but the real driver was their reali…
Kudos to Trevor MacKay and Maya Sobel, the two young folks who wrote the commentary, ”Rutland high school and politics,” published in the April 9 edition of the Rutland Herald.
Here's a dare for the Rutland School Board and Rutland High School: Fly a pro-life flag. Cogent discussion, anyone?
This particular shoulder season can be taxing on us Vermonters: not a lot of green, too many relentless snowstorms, mud (and dog poop) and the ever-present slow start from the Red Sox.
